John Eliot (bef. 1604 - 1690)

Born before 5 Aug 1604 in Widford, Hertfordshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Ann (Mountford) Eliot — married Oct 1632 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 20 May 1690 after age 85 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay

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John Eliot migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 1, p. 630) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

John Eliot was born in Widford, Hertfordshire, England and lived at Nazeing as a boy. He was baptised on 5 August 1604 at Church of St. John the Baptist, Widford, Hertfordshire, England.^[1] He entered Jesus College, Cambridge, March 20, 1618.^[2]He spent a part of the time between 1622 and 1631 at a private school in Little Baddow, Essex, as a school-master with Rev. Thomas Hooker, founder of Hartford, Connecticut. After Hooker was forced to flee to Holland, Eliot emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, arranging passage as chaplain on the ship Lyon and arriving on November 3, 1631. Eliot became minister and "teaching elder" at the First Church in Roxbury.

From 1637 to 1638 Eliot participated in both the civil and church trials of Anne Hutchinson during the Antinomian Controversy. Eliot disapproved of Hutchinson's views and actions, and was one of the two ministers representing Roxbury in the proceedings which led to her excommunication and exile. In 1645, Eliot founded the Roxbury Latin School. He and fellow ministers Thomas Weld (also of Roxbury) and Richard Mather of Dorchester, are credited with editing the Bay Psalm Book, the first book published in the British North American colonies (1640). From 1649 to 1674, Samuel Danforth assisted Eliot in his Roxbury ministry.

The Natick, Massachusetts, historical society recounts how in 1651 "John Eliot worked with indigenous leaders, such as Waban (Massachusett) and John Speen (Nipmuc) to establish Natick on a bend in the Charles River." This was the first of the "praying towns" established by Eliot. While his aim was to convert, the local native people were drawn to the praying towns often for land security. For more than twenty years "Eliot visited Natick regularly to preach, but the town established its own school led by Monequassan (Massachusett) and a government run by Massachusett and Nipmuc elected leaders." See the Natick Historical Society website's page on Natick's Beginnings, with additional sources at https://www.natickhistoricalsociety.org/naticks-beginnings.

John Eliot himself says he married Oct. 1632 Ann Mountfort (Hanna Mumford). However the Roxbury Vital Records place the date, incorrectly, as 4 Sept 1632, which predates the bride's arrival.^[3] They had six children, five girls and one boy. Their daughter Hannah Eliot married Habbakuk Glover. Their son, John Eliot, Jr., was the first pastor of the First Church of Christ in Newton.^[4]Their son Joseph Eliot, was pastor of the first meeting house at Guilford, Connecticut, from 1664 until his death in 1694.^[5]

John died in 1690 (supposedly 20 May 1690 in Boston) and was buried at Eliot Burying Ground, Roxbury. His memorial has a biography, photos and links to those of his wife and children.^[6]

A copy of John Eliot preaching to the Massachusetts Indians, colour engraving by John Chester Buttre and a biography is available here John Eliot

Sources

1. ↑ "Genealogical Gleanings in England." citing the Paris Register of St. John the Baptist, Widford, Hertfordshire, England. Extracted in 1893, in the language of the 1893, by Rev. John Traviss Lockwood, Rector. New England Historical and Genealogical Register 48:402. (1894)
2. ↑ Entry for John Elliott in the Cambridge University Alumni Database. ID ELT618J.
3. ↑ Anderson p. 631
4. ↑ Wikipedia Authors, John Eliot (missionary) (Wikipedia)
5. ↑ The History of Guilford from its first settlement in 1639, by Ralph D. Smith, Albany, N.Y., Munsell, 1877, page 94.
6. ↑ Rev John "Apostle to the Indians" Eliot memorial at Find A Grave.

• The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995). pp 630 - 632. Featured Name: John Eliot.subscription site$

See also:

• Rev. John Eliot (Geni.com)
• Eliot, John (WikiSource)
• Genealogical Gleanings in England, NEHGR,48:42
• William Smith Porter, Genealogy of the Eliot family, 1854
• Genealogy of the descendants of John Eliot', 1905
• Jeff Walton, transcribed from The Descendants of Rev. John Eliot, Capt. James Parker, Capt. Thomas Prentice from New England and Pulteney, New York, 1620-1967: Including references to the families of Mullins, Southworth, Bradford, Bridge, Stanton, Lord; compiled by Wilford V. Case; Syracuse, NY; December 15, 1967.
• Littlefield, George Emery. The Early Massachusetts Press, 1638-1711 (Boston, Massachusetts, Club of Odd Volumes, 1907) Vol. 1, Page 162
• Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (Royal Historical Society, 1882) Vol. 10, Page 288-
• Thwing, Walter Eliot. History of the First Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1630-1904 (W.A. Butterfield, Boston, 1908) Page 17-37
• Great Migration Newsletter, V.1-20.(Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015.)Vol. 2, p. 12. "Eliot's Roxbury Church."link for subscribers
• Inscriptions From The Old Burial Ground, Roxbury, Mass., The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1860) Vol. 14, Page 50
• Sprague, William Buell. Annals of the American Pulpit (Robert Carter & Brothers, New York, 1857) Vol. 1, Page 18-23
• Some Correspondence Between The Governors and Treasurers of The New England Company in London (Spottiswoode & Co., London, 1896) Page xvi
• Boston Record Commissioners. Boston Records Commissioners Reports (Rockwell and Churchill, Boston, 1875) Vol. 6, Page 170

• "1631 Novr. Mr. John Eliot arrived in N. England aged 27. Joyned to ye chr. att Boston."
• "1632 Octr. Mr. John Eliot was married."
• "1632 Novr. 5 or 9th. The Revd. Mr. Eliot was ordained Teacher of the Church in Roxbury."
• "1690 May 20 The Revd. Mr. Eliot died."

• Vital Records of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (The Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., 1936) Vol. 2, Page 291.